Divine Becoming: Rethinking Jesus and Incarnation - Softcover

Burns, Charlene P. E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0800632788 ISBN 13: 9780800632786

Publisher: Fortress Press, 2001

Synopsis

The universally human element of Jesus' incarnationDespite the feverish pace of publishing in historical Jesus studies, biblical scholars and theologians have not notably progressed in addressing the meaning and significance of the figure of Jesus in ways credible for contemporary persons.

In this creative and insightful work, Burns seeks to understand the significance of Jesus and his incarnation through the category of participation. The central theological claims in the traditional concept of incarnation are anchored and illumined by Jesus' particular ability for empathy, sympathy, attunement, and entrainment. This notion, derived from the psychological research of Daniel Stern, allows Burns to show that incarnation the capacity to participate in the life of others is present not only in Jesus but to some extent in all people and in all religions. It further illumines features of God's trinitarian life and our lifelong journey into God (deification).

About this title

About the Author

Charlene P. E. Burns is Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She is the author of Christian Understandings of Evil: The Historical Trajectory (Fortress Press, 2016),  More Moral Than God: Taking Responsibility for Religious Violence  (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), and Divine Becoming: Rethinking Jesus and Incarnation (Fortress Press, 2001). She is also the editor ofMis/Representing Evil: Evil in an Interdisciplinary Key (Inter-disciplinary Press, Oxford, UK, 2009).

From the Back Cover

"Divine Becoming is a beautifully articulated and carefully reasoned book, conversant with the classical theological tradition. Charlene Burns creatively incorporates interdisciplinary research into the human phenomena of ... altruism to interpret the meaning of incarnation. Where divine empathy meets the human capacity for self-transcendence on behalf of others, there deification occurs like unto to Jesus."

Craig L. Nessan, Academic Dean and Professor of Contextual Theology, Wartburg Theological Seminary

"This book will, I believe, be at the center of future christological discussion." Sallie McFague, Carpenter Professor Emerita, Vanderbilt University, Distinguished Theologian in Residence, Vancouver School of Theology

Edition details

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0800632788
• ISBN 13: 9780800632786
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208